Part 13 (1/2)
Siegfried answered, ”Not I. If she hath said so, I will rest not till she repent it. I swear with a high oath, in the presence of all thy knights, that I said not this thing.”
The king of the Rhine made answer, ”So be it. If thou swear the oath here, I will acquit thee of the falsehood.” Then the Burgundians stood round in a ring, and Siegfried swore it with his hand; whereupon the great king said, ”Verily, I hold thee guiltless, nor lay to thy charge the word my sister imputeth to thee.”
Said Siegfried further, ”If she rejoiceth to have troubled thy fair wife, I am grieved beyond measure.” The knights glanced at each other.
”Women must be taught to bridle their tongues. Forbid proud speech to thy wife: I will do the like to mine. Such bitterness and pride are a shame.”
Angry words have divided many men. Brunhild made such dole, that Gunther's men had pity on her. And Hagen of Trony went to her and asked what ailed her, for he found her weeping. She told him the tale, and he sware straightway that Kriemhild's husband should pay for it, or never would Hagen be glad again.
While they talked together, Ortwin and Gernot came up, and the warriors counselled Siegfried's death. But when Giselher, Uta's fair child, drew nigh and heard them, he spake out with true heart, ”Alack, good knights, what would ye do? How hath Siegfried deserved such hate that he should lose his life? A woman is lightly angered.”
”Shall we rear b.a.s.t.a.r.ds?” cried Hagen. ”That were small honour to good knights. I will avenge on him the boast that he hath made, or I will die.”
But the king himself said, ”Good, and not evil, hath he done to us. Let him live. Wherefore should I hate the knight? He hath ever been true to me.”
But Ortwin of Metz said, ”His great strength shall not avail him. Allow, O Lord, that I challenge him to his death.” So, without cause, they banded against him. Yet none had urged it further, had not Hagen tempted Gunther every day, saying, that if Siegfried lived not, many kings' lands were subject to him.
Whereat the warrior began to grieve.
Meanwhile they let the matter lie, and returned to the tourney. Ha! what stark spears they brake before Kriemhild, atween the minster and the palace; but Gunther's men were wroth.
Then said the king, ”Give over this deadly hate. For our weal and honour he was born. Thereto the man is so wonderly stark and grim, that, if he were ware of this, none durst stand against him.”
”Not so,” said Hagen. ”a.s.sure thee on that score. For I will contrive secretly that he pay for Brunhild's weeping. Hagen is his foe evermore.”
But Gunther said, ”How meanest thou?”
And Hagen answered, ”On this wise. Men that none here knoweth shall ride as envoys into this land and declare war. Whereupon thou wilt say before thy guests that thou must to battle with thy liegemen. When thou hast done this, he will promise to help thee. Then he shall die, after I have learnt a certain thing from his wife.”
Evilly the king followed Hagen, and they plotted black treason against the chosen knight, without any suspecting it. So, through the quarrel of two women, died many warriors.
Fifteenth Adventure
How Siegfried Was Betrayed
On the fourth morning, thirty and two men were seen riding to the court.
They brought word to Gunther that war was declared against him. The women were woeful when they heard this lie.
The envoys won leave to go into the king, and they said they were Ludger's men, that Siegfried's hand had overcome in battle and brought captive into Gunther's land.
The king greeted them, and bade them sit, but one of them said, ”Let us stand, till that we have declared the message wherewith we are charged to thee. Know that thou hast to thy foemen many a mother's son. Ludger and Ludgast, whom thou hast aforetime evilly entreated, ride hither to make war against thee in this land.”
The king fell in a rage, as if he had known naught thereof. Then they gave the false messengers good lodging. How could Siegfried or any other guess their treason, whereby, or all was done, they themselves perished?
The king went whispering up and down with his friends. Hagen of Trony gave him no peace. Many of the knights were fain to let it drop, but Hagen would not be turned from it.
On a day that Siegfried found them whispering, he asked them, ”Wherefore are the king and his men so sorrowful? If any hath done aught to their hurt, I will stand by them to avenge it.”
Gunther answered, ”I grieve not without cause. Ludgast and Ludger ride hither to war against me in my land.”